145;Rumsfeld okayed Gitmo methods146;

In what it calls the first documented look at the highly classified realm of military interrogations, Time magazine reports that US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld approved the use of 16 strong coercive methods in the interrogation of select detainees at Gitmo Camp in Guantanamo Bay. The methods include forcible injection with fluids, interrogation in proximity to military dogs, and straddling by a woman soldier.

One of the detainees on whom the tactics were used, was top Saudi suspect Mohammed al-Qahtani, widely believed to be the so-called 20th 9/11 hijacker, the magazine said, quoting secret logs it had obtained. The logs spanned 50 days from November 8217;02 to early January 8217;03, during which the 16 additional interrogation techniques received Rumsfeld8217;s go-ahead.

The 84-page log details the interrogation of 8216;Detainee 0638217; at Guantanamo Bay, the magazine said. Every detail of al-Qahtani8217;s daily routine was itemised, as also each instance when he complied with or refused his interrogators8217; requests. It is stamped 8220;Secret Orcon8221;, a military acronym for a document that is supposed to remain with the organization that created it, Time said.

Al-Qahtani8217;s resilience under pressure in the fall of 2002, the report said, led top officials at Gitmo to petition Washington for 8220;more muscular counter resistance strategies8217;8217;. After the new measures were approved, it said the mood in al-Qahtani8217;s interrogation changed dramatically.